Punahou gives Saint Louis a little payback

Tension, energy and a good dose of bitterness didn't hurt Punahou last night.

Remembering their season-ending triple-overtime loss a year ago against Saint Louis, the Buffanblu went on a rousing third-quarter run to roll over the Crusaders 65-47 at Hemmeter Fieldhouse.

Top-ranked Punahou (12-2) won its Interscholastic League of Honolulu opener with defense and rebounding. The Buffanblu, led by Spencer McLachlin and Miah Ostrowski, had a 33-26 edge on the boards. They limited Saint Louis to 37 percent shooting from the field (17-for-46) and forced 14 turnovers.

Punahou shot 49 percent from the field (26-for-53). McLachlin and Ostrowski combined for 11 points as Punahou went on a 13-3 run to open the second half. That turned a two-point halftime lead into a 40-28 lead.

Saint Louis got within 45-42 after Micah McClinton hustled for a follow shot with 6:48 to play, but the Buffanblu answered with a 9-1 run. McLachlin's layup on the break, off a pass from Ostrowski, made it 54-42 with 3:31 remaining. The Crusaders didn't threaten again.

McLachlin, facing off against Saint Louis' dominating Scott Smith, finished with 21 points on 10-for-17 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots, and also dished out four assists.

Smith, a 6-7 football standout who has been nearly unstoppable on the hardwood, struggled against a collapsing Punahou defense. He shot just 3-for-11 from the field and finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Punahou coach Dan Hale had his team ready to take away the Crusaders' top scoring option.

"We had help on the backside," McLachlin said, referring to 6-4 Kameron Steinhoff, among others. "We worked on that all week."

Kuli'a Aiona led Saint Louis with 14 points. Buffanblu guards limited sophomore Cole Shidaki, who settled for mid-range jumpers, to one point. Normally one of Saint Louis' top scorers, he was 1-for-6 from the foul line.

Punahou will visit Kamehameha, which narrowly lost at Iolani last night, on Saturday. Second-ranked Saint Louis (9-3) will host Maryknoll on Saturday.

"Punahou is solid. They played like I knew they could. We lacked aggression on both sides," Saint Louis coach Delbert Tengan said. "We played rag-tag in the first half, but we had our chances. We were down 2 and turned it over three times in a row. That's disappointing."

The Crusaders shot 11-for-20 from the free-throw line.

"We've just gotta get better. We have a tough game with Maryknoll coming up," Tengan added.

Steinhoff finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds to give Punahou a power duo under the glass.

Ostrowski missed his first six shots from the field, but finished with 17 points and five assists. The senior guard gave the Buffanblu steady ballhandling against a tough man-to-man defense.

"This is a huge momentum boost to start the season," Ostrowski said.

McLachlin agreed. "This has a lot of sentimental feeling for the loss from last year," he said.

That loss cost Punahou a spot in the state tournament.

"A lot of guys returning from that game have a chip on their shoulder," McLachlin added.

No. 2 Iolani 44, No. 8 Kamehameha 38

Liloa Nobriga scored 11 points and Pablo Warner added 10 as the Raiders survived a scare from the Warriors to win in double overtime.

Rykin Enos nailed three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 17 points for the Warriors. Both teams managed just two points in the first overtime period before Iolani outscored Kamehameha 11-5 in the final 5 minutes of the game.